My Sondors electric bike came today!

Well well well, to all you haters and trolls that have cried since February claiming we'd never see our bikes... not only did my bike come today but it was fairly easy to assemble (hour and 45 minutes but that was mostly due to swatting mozzies every few seconds and the fact that I'm quite heavy and it's 88F and 65% humidity). The bike is both exhilarating and terrifying. I took it for a quick two laps around the neighborhood finding if I put it at full throttle for a single second and then let off I'd still be going several miles an hour at each stop sign. Using the front or the rear brakes provides stopping power more than adequate for stops you know are coming up and applying both at once stops the bike more than fast enough for 99% of emergency stops. I don't know how fast I was going but it was faster than I go down my street in the car. Picked up a group of kids that were going "woooaaahhh" and pedaling as fast as they could trying to keep up with me.

The bike claims a net weight of 62lbs and a gross weight of 76lbs however UPS had it listed as 89lbs on the tracking info. I can't honestly give you a good judge of character as I Olympic lift as well as lift random heavy things for farmer's carries and the like so the box was just an awkward size, the bike itself is quite easy for me to pick up and carry distances. Men and women that don't lift regularly (and especially smaller ones) might have issue with the box or lifting the bike above their waists but even then you could load it into a truck fairly easy I imagine by just getting one tire up first like I used to do with my mountain bike as a preten.

I was able to lift everything straight out of the box by pinning the cardboard between the table and my leg, it definitely would have been easier to rip the box open but I wanted to use it to hold the packing material as I pulled it off the bike. The tire on the left is only attached by a zip tie.

Not pictured is a box or two and the seat. Ignore my tangled hose, I water my garden most nights and got tired of wheeling the hose up every night.

It looks way way better than I ever could have hoped. I'm not happy with how I have the handlebars but I was starting to get dehyrdated and my head is pounding. I took it for a quick spin and then called it quits for the evening. Tomorrow morning I'm going to ride it around town (a few square miles) till I either get bored or till the battery dies while tracking with whatever GPS app I find for my iPhone. It wasn't hard for me to pedal it at all without battery assist so if it dies on me I'll get home fast. I imagine I get bored or overheat (looking like 90F and more humidity tomorrow) before the battery runs out though but I'll fix the handlebars then. Right now the throttle bar is in the 5/7 (depending on what side you are on) o'clock position AWAY from me and the little wing/paddle things on the handlebar are in an awkward position too so I'll fidget with it tomorrow until it feels right.

The Sondors eBike by Storm Sondors starts delivering to customers

So in February I mentioned the The Sondors eBike by Storm Sondors and how I had contributed. In fact I was one of the very first contributors. Well they began being delivered today... you see they manufactured them in the order of most popular color combinations... so people that paid for theirs LONG after I did, are receiving their bikes today yet I was one of the first TEN BACKERS and my bike is listed as number 1520 for production. My bike has yet to even leave China, if it's even been made yet. Gee thanks Sondors! What a slap in the face.

Here is one that was delivered to another contributor

Photo of J.R.'s bike assembled and ready to go!

I must admit, it looks awesome. Mine will be black frame with black rims and supposedly is being manufactured now (however once it actually goes into a cargo container it'll be a month or more than I see it)... sooo my bike won't make it here to Indiana till August at the earliest, so much for the July I had been expecting all along, having been one of the first contributors. Really really disappointed. I was also told during the campaign Mr. Sondors wanted to have a conference call with me as soon as the campaign ended to personally thank me for being such a big supporter, well that never happened either. "Storm" feel free to reach out and set that up if you want and explain to me why you shafted us first contributors... I mean hell if you would have said "yeah we are going to ship black/yellow first, would you like to choose that instead since you were one of the first backers" I would have gone "sure!".

Why I'm arguably overly passionate about the Sonders Electric Bike

So a lot of people, in regards to the Sondors Electric Bike campaign, have accused me of being an insider/working for Storm/working for Agency 2.0 etc. Those of you that know me know this isn't the case at all, you know I've never been to California you know that I don't even own a bicycle and haven't for a decade. To those of you that don't... let me give some context as to why I've been so passionate about this campaign and so active in the comment section for it.

My former mentor (was worth millions and millions, 13 businesses in 6 states one that had between 1000-1500 employees) was an absolute ass to me. Everytime I had an idea he'd tell me I was stupid, it was stupid, it won't work etc. Anytime I would bring him something "Hey R, would you give me a couple thousand secured loan so I can try this" and he'd just shit all over me and my idea until I finally told him sorry, I couldn't have him in my life any more. Less than 2 years later I had a small business making me as much as my 'real' job. So I HATE people that are always trying to find the negative in someone else's ideas, dreams, or success. Don't get me wrong, those that know me will tell you I can be pretty negative, I've even been called Eeyore, but not when it is about someone's desires/dreams/goals. 

A birthday card I had made for my former mentor, he liked to call me Eeyore.

Also for the record, Agency 2.0 helped Kreyos and I contributed to Kreyos (however, since that disaster Agency 2.0 is on the record as saying they will only take on clients that have a functional prototype, something Kreyos didn't have even months after the campaign ended which was a GIANT red flag that I ignored, lesson learned). I got royally screwed on Kreyos. So yeah, there are shady people out there that will rip you off but Storm is not giving me the slightest hint he has those intentions. The dude had a bike made for himself because he had issues that required the power assist, he then probably got compliments about it and questions asked and thought "hey I can probably sell this" and he went online trying to raise a meager $75,000. He's raised 3.2 million and is showing every sign he's doing his best to get the best bike specs he can for the price point he wants. Stop looking for reasons to sabotage him. I have my money tied up in ths campaign too, but after being taken on several crowdfunding projects I've realized it's going to happen and you have to go into each one expecting to never see anything. You should give to projects because you want to help others pursue their dreams, like my mentor wouldn't do for me (the man could ahve given me a million cash and never missed it, he wouldn't loan me 3k secured against my car). Support people's dreams or don't get involved with them at all.

So yeah, maybe I'm a bit over the top defending this project. My whole life I've been told I wasn't good enough and that whatever I try to do will fail. This is hands down the most success I've seen a campaign I've given to (out of about 30 between the various sites) have and it's exciting and even intoxicating seeing someone else get to see if their dream will work.

Tech Columnist Dan Tynan can't get his story straight about the Storm Electric Bike (Sondors eBike)!

So Dan Tynan originally wrote an article about the Storm Electric Bike - The Storm eBike: An Inexpensive Answer to Gridlock? - and quickly, if you'd pardon the pun, backpedaled and posted a new article after talking to ONE direct COMPETITOR to the Storm Electric Bike (who has yet to back up their claims they made to Dan in any public venue, but viciously attacked the campaign in the comments on Indiegogo after contributing) called A $500 eBike? Not So Fast.

In the original article Dan says things like

“I got to take one for a short spin outside Yahoo’s San Francisco offices. ”

Screenshot of https://www.yahoo.com/tech/the-storm-ebike-a-500-answer-to-gridlock-109526615029.html

“While the eBike’s 350-watt motor still doesn’t have enough oomph to conquer San Francisco’s steep hills without a pedal-powered assist, it’s a whiz on city streets as well as the twisty canyon roads of Malibu, where the company is based, says Sonders”

Well Dan in the Malibu quote it is quite difficult to see where your thought ends and the quote begins, because well you didn't use quotation marks... that's sloppy journalism and at a casual glance it looks like you claimed to test it in Malibu which is 400 miles from San Francisco.

You also say things like

“ A gentle tap of my thumb on the accelerator, and I was hitting the max speed of 20 mph in less than 50 yards.”

Screenshot of https://www.yahoo.com/tech/the-storm-ebike-a-500-answer-to-gridlock-109526615029.html

Confirming the claim as to the bike's speed… I am assuming you measured that speed somehow and didn’t just fudge it for your article, that would be bad journalism Dan. In your update to the original article you state:

“The Storm eBike promises impressive specs: the ability to run on sand or snow as well as pavement, a maximum speed of 20 mph,”

Which in your original article you claimed to have operated the Storm at 20mph so cool that fact checks out.. but wait, your new source (a direct competitor) claims that 20mph isn't possible even though you witnessed it via your own operation of the bike!!!

“Those numbers just don’t add up, says David Santos, vice president of sales and business development for Big Cat Worldwide, a New York-based seller of e-bikes.”

Come on Dan, how can you call yourself a journalist? You can't even keep your claims straight! You interview company A and test their product, then company B contacts you claiming company A is a liar and it just so happens company B sells a similar product for a bite more than twice as much... gee, couldn't that be profit? Did you bother to contact manufacturers and see what you could get say 10, 100, 1000 bikes of a similar specification for? No, you didn't? Of course you didn't, that would have taken you what, 5 or 10 minutes to make your article even remotely researched?

Then you contribute to the project and run over to the comments section

Screenshot of https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/storm-electric-bike/x/481805#comments

Let's see here Dan you took the bike for a 'short spin outside Yahoo’s San Francisco offices', and 'A gentle tap of my thumb on the accelerator, and I was hitting the max speed of 20 mph in less than 50 yards' and ' Hydraulic disc brakes brought it to a swift stop' meaning you verified the speed over a measured distance during your operation of the bicycle you continue by noting 'The battery is removable' sounds like a review to me!

Now in your Indiegogo comments you also said "failed to note the $500 price was temporary" yet in your original article you mention 'At an introductory price of $499,'  Lets take a look at the word 'introductory'

“adjective: introductory

serving as an introduction to a subject or topic; basic or preliminary.”

and lets take a look at the word 'temporary'

“adjective: temporary

lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent.”

aha Dan, 'introductry' seems to imply 'lasting for only a limited period of time, not permanent' just like the word 'temporary' which means that the $499 (not $500 as you claim in your Indiegogo comment) price was in fact TEMPORARY. But Ryan I said 'And both Storm and Jonathan failed to note that the $500 price was temporary, which was not revealed until this campaign went live.' yes sir you did, and your article mentioned this TEMPORARY price, meaning now you're just whining because you have egg on your face. You wrote an article, did no research then a competitor contacted you and (as far as we can tell) offered no evidence to back up their claims that the Storm bike is an impossibility and you quickly vomited out another article backpedaling on the original (and again, no evidence you verified those claims either) but you DID test the Storm even if you chose to use a word other than TEST.

“noun: test; plural noun: tests

a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use.”

Just stop Dan.

Solar charge your Storm Electric Bike (Sondors eBike), well sorta...

I've seen a lot of people asking if there will be a solar-powered charging option for their Storm Electric BIke and it makes me realize the general population doesn't realize what a PV panel is actually capable of. 

Solar:

Basically under ideal conditions you will get 1,000 watts per square meter (and really the commercially available panels aren't this efficient at all, they perform worse) of solar panel at the equator, at noon, with zero cloud cover. That means for the 350 watt hour battery to charge in an hour you'll need 542.501 square inches of PV panel to charge it in 1 hour's time... so you aren't going to just fold a small PV panel up in your backpack and set it out at your destination to charge the bike. Fore more information on solar power, see the bottom of this post for some good educational links.

HOWEVER if you are going camping or in the event of an extended power outage (keep in mind, solar panels only work if the sun is shining, storms can create cloud cover for days or weeks meaning no sun) want a way to charge the battery in a timely fashion to give you the ability to greatly increase your area of operation during the power outage, you CAN get a smaller panel which will charge the battery over several hours.

Something like the RenogyⓇ Foldable Solar Suitcase Battery Charger 100W for a good portable option

RenogyⓇ Foldable Solar Suitcase Battery Charger 100W

Renogy

For the above you'd still need an inventer or charge controller and some cables to use it.

For a more permanent installation you could go with Renogy 100W Mono Starter Kit: 100W Solar Panel+20' Solar Cable+30A PWM Charge Controller+Z Bracket Mounts 

Renogy 100W Mono Starter Kit: 100W Solar Panel+20' Solar Cable+30A PWM Charge Controller+Z Bracket Mounts

Renogy

You could also go with a larger capacity system for faster charging but you sacrifice portability, 

Wind:

Look at something like wind turbines (I like vertical turbines the best), if you want to read about wind-power I recommend two books Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Home and Community Scale Wind-Energy Systems and Build Your Own Small Wind Power System. Things to keep in mind here, wind turbines will need a minimum steady wind to generate electricity, placement is crucial. Wind turbines also do make a bit of noise, in the form of a whirring or droning sound which can be quite annoying for larger turbines at speed but easy to ignore for smaller turbines at speed.

Your automobile:

Yup, imagine a scenario like camping in an area with a lot of tree cover or power is out at home and no sun shining from a storm but you don't want to take your car out, maybe tress are down or debris is in the streets... guess what, you can use your AUTOMOBILE to charge that bike. How? The easiest way would be to buy an inverter to hook up to your car like the Cobra CPI 1575 1500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter (authors note, I own this model and for it's price it's decent).

Cobra CPI 1575 1500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter

Cobra Electronics

Further online reading:

Backwoods Home also has this Solar Primer from 2001 which is decent enough for a quick education. The Florida Solar Energy Center also has a good resource called Solar Electricty Basics.

For you DIY/hands-on types that want to learn about renewable energy by actually building something cheap check out this Instructable '9$ Solar, Wind and Hydro turbine (on your faucet) powered USB'.

The Sondors eBike by Storm Sondors

Earlier this week an Indiegogo campaign came to my attention via one of their emails, Storm Electric Bike.

This thing looks awesome, it promises to be an affordable (but simple) electric bike. I snagged one via the campaign for 499$ plus shipping, other electric bike options from current manufacturers and distributors start north of 1000$. What makes this one different you ask?

Storm doesn't have a bunch of bells and whistles. It does NOT have regenerative braking which requires less parts so less to build, it is fixed gear (while some current electric bikes are 10-speeds) so again less parts-less to build, all of the parts used to make this bike are off the shelf parts meaning no need to pay for custom tooling and molds, again significant cost savings. 

Sure at 499$ via the campaign Storm Sondors is unlikely to make much per bike, however this is just the crowd-funding price. Obviously when these sell retail they'll cost more, and that is where the profit comes in. Via the campaign comments a competitor is constantly fear mongering claiming this bike can not be made that his costs such and such and it's impossible to make a 499$ electric bike... yet that competitor's bike is 10-speed, has regenerative braking AND FOLDS IN HALF all of which cost more, he's also already at the retail point and is likely making a considerable profit per unit.

Look folks, I've looked at what it would cost ME to build a similar bike from off the shelf parts in small quantities with no contacts and no ability to order in considerable quantity. I estimate I could personally import all the parts for 30 bikes (including duties and brokerage fees) for less than 499$ each. It's doable. Also keep in mind, crowd-funding isn't the same as going to the store and buying something. Usually at best a prototype exists and the campaign creator(s) have little to no experience in manufacturing anything outside of their workshop so contributing is a risky gamble. One should NEVER expect to receive a single thing they contribute for, you are contributing to someone's dream. In this case however, Storm Sondors has decades of experience in prototyping and mass manufacturing (McDonald's happy meal toys) and likely has dozens or hundreds of contacts in various manufacturing, distribution, logistics, warehousing etc areas as well as an intimate understanding of reasonable timelines and challenges that will likely be faced to manufacture his bikes. I gave 499$ to this campaign and I do not regret it, I feel confident in my decision to contribute based on my above comments and the fact that several tech journalists have been allowed to use the prototype unit and their reputations give them ZERO reason to lie about their experiences using this bike from a currently unknown manufacturer. 

UPDATE:

Their are individuals crawling out of the woodwork to constantly slam this campaign, claiming it's a scam, claiming I'm an insider/work for Storm or Agency 2.0, claiming it's a giant scam and I'm part of the conspiracy to defraud people out of 3.1 million dollars and counting, etc. It's getting quite ridiculous. The individuals claiming such I deeply suspect of being direct competitors with a currently manufactured bike with similar specifications that starts around $1200. Why do I suspect this? In the early comments of the campaign a direct competitor was posting the link to his product and making the exact same claims. Now it's 'anonymous contributor' making these allegations (and claiming such to news outlets which, without verifying his complains, are reporting everything he tells them as 100% true, and that's just sloppy journalism).

This bike is more than able to be made (at a profit) for the $499 price, it is now $599 and is scheduled to increase yet again. Keep in mind this price is for BACKERS of the campaign and is NOT the final retail price. Also keep in mind Storm and company will make the bulk of their profits selling accessories and upgrades after retail launch of the bike. 

It amazes me how many people don't understand crowdfunding and think they are BUYING a bike like they would on Amazon.com